A nightmare vision of the Louvre

In the second of a series of comics produced in conjunction with the Louvre, Mathieu depicts the museum as a never-ending warren. An art assessor has been appointed to study, index and evaluate the entire collection. But this nightmarish version of the museum stretches on for ever, and includes a seminar space for security guards to perfect the art of "Tss-ing" patrons who try to touch the paintings. The book unfolds in vignettes taken from the assessor's diary; when the man reaches day 11,894 it's clear this bureaucratic search will be his life's work. Mathieu has a knack for caricature, but it's the ideas behind the black and white panels that make it successful. Can anyone become an expert and truly assess what defines art? In one particularly effective set of panels, a withered caretaker shows all the different versions of the Mona Lisa, each one painted with a nearly imperceptible difference in the smile. Mixing jokes with profound meditations on art, Mathieu will make any new visitor to the Louvre curious about its mysteries.